Match Stats/Report - Murray vs del Potro, Olympic Games final, 2016

Waspsting

Hall of Fame
Andy Murray (Great Britain) beat Juan Martin del Potro (Argentina) 7-5, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 in the Olympic Games final, 2016 on hard court in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Murray was the defending champion, while del Potro had won the bronze medal in at previous edition in 2012. Kei Nishikori (Japan), who Murray had beaten in the in the semi-final, would win the Bronze medal by beating Rafael Nadal (Spain)

Murray won 141 points, del Potro 128

Serve Stats
Murray...
- 1st serve percentage (64/126) 51%
- 1st serve points won (46/64) 72%
- 2nd serve points won (30/62) 48%
- Aces 10
- Double Faults 6
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (23/126) 18%

del Potro...
- 1st serve percentage (103/143) 72%
- 1st serve points won (64/103) 62%
- 2nd serve points won (14/40) 35%
- Aces 3
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (25/143) 17%

Serve Patterns
Murray served...
- to FH 29%
- to BH 61%
- to Body 10%

del Potro served...
- to FH 44%
- to BH 50%
- to Body 6%

Return Stats
Murray made...
- 116 (48 FH, 68 BH), including 3 return-approaches
- 1 Winner (1 FH)
- 22 Errors, comprising...
- 14 Unforced (10 FH, 4 BH), including 1 runaround BH
- 8 Forced (4 FH, 4 BH)
- Return Rate (116/141) 82%

del Potro made...
- 97 (37 FH, 60 BH), including 11 runaround FHs
- 1 Winner (1 FH)
- 13 Errors, comprising...
- 8 Unforced (2 FH, 6 BH)
- 5 Forced (4 FH, 1 BH)
- Return Rate (97/120) 81%

Break Points
Murray 9/23 (10 games)
del Potro 6/12 (8 games)

Winners (excluding serves, including returns)
Murray 34 (9 FH, 10 BH, 5 FHV, 4 BHV, 6 OH)
del Potro 36 (20 FH, 4 BH, 2 FHV, 5 BHV, 5 OH)

Murray FHs - 4 cc (1 return, 3 passes), 1 dtl pass, 2 inside-out, 1 longline, 1 drop shot
- BHs - 5 dtl (1 slice, 2 passes), 1 dtl/inside-out, 1 inside-out pass, 1 drop shot, 2 lobs

- 2 BHVs were non-net swinging passes
- 2 OHs were on the bounce (1 from the baseline)

del Potro's FHs - 3 cc (1 return), 2 cc/inside-in, 1 dtl pass, 6 inside-out (1 pass), 4 inside-in, 2 inside-in/cc, 1 longline/drop shot, 1 running-down-drop-shot drop shot at net
- BHs - 3 dtl passes, 1 net chord dribbler

- 1 FHV was a swinging, non-net shot & 1 OH was on the bounce

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Murray 61
- 39 Unforced (20 FH, 18 BH, 1 FHV)... the FHV was a swinging shot
- 22 Forced (11 FH, 10 BH, 1 FHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 43.8

del Potro 82
- 54 Unforced (36 FH, 17 BH, 1 BHV)... with 1 FH at net
- 28 Forced (16 FH, 8 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 BH1/2V)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45.6

(Note 1: all half-volleys refer to such shots played at net. Half -volleys played from other parts of the court are included within relevant groundstroke counts)

(Note 2: the Unforced Error Forcefulness Index is an indicator of how aggressive the average UE was. The numbers presented are keyed on 4 categories - 20 defensive, 40 neutral, 50 attacking and 60 winner attempt)

Net Points & Serve-Volley
Murray was 20/28 (71%) at net, with...
- 2/3 (67%) return-approaching
- 3/3 forced back/retreated

del Potro was 20/40 (50%) at net, with...
- 1/1 forced back

Match Report
A very weird match. Its hot, sticky, crowd are raucous rambunctious, court is slow. del Potro is winded before end of first set, extending to physically half-gone by the third set. Murray is not and has an easy time doing whatever he likes, until he goes off on awful run of play to keep things interesting to the end

“Interesting”. Not “good”. The deciding set is God awful stuff from both players. Gutsy stuff from the moving-like-a-rock Delpo at the end. Better fitness would obviate the need for such guts

With Murray have steam rolled through the third, with Delpo growing wearier and slower by the game, 6-1 Murray in the fourth would be a good bet

Instead, we get 7-5. 7 breaks, including first 4 games. Murray double faulting, missing routine groundies and returns. Delpo doing what he can gutsily but not well. He’s so out of it that he goes to the wrong side to serve after saving a break point

Delpo serves for the set, but is broken for 5-5, not before saving 3 break points. He’s so out of it that on one of them, he can’t move to a slightly wide, but powerful ball and just reaches out for it with his wide wingspan, not without luck, fending it back in play for an unintentional, effectively drop shot winner

He’s got 0-30 next game and blasts a deep FH that Murray manages to fend back from well back, with Delpo moving in for the kill when ball is called out and Chair overrules to in. It was in, and point is replayed, with Murray taking it niftily

Rest of game remains as it is, but Delpo wins that point, he breaks. There’s drama in the last game too, with crowd distracting Murray as he’s about to putaway a FH. Couple of fans in Argentina football jerseys are evicted (unrelated to the incident). Ends up not mattering as Murray breaks after 10 points to put the match out its misery

If Delpo breaks previous game we go to tiebreak. Seeing how bad the tennis is, it’s a small pity it doesn’t and we don’t get a 5th set. Or not

Dramatic stuff. The tennis ain’t so great though

Prior to that though, good match from both players on slow surface. Murray staying solid and working the ball about, using the net effectively. He’s got big hitting advantage on the BH and his FH proves a lot more solid, he drop shots, he comes to net, he moves the slow Delpo about… all the little subtleties of his game, done well

Delpo slices BHs and watches and waits on the FH. The big booming FH is only shot on show that can do damage on a painfully slow surface, but he doesn’t overdo it or look to. There are winners, occasionally he unleashes big shots from routine positions but not often, and more often, just big powerful extensions of ‘neutral’ shot that are strong enough to draw errors from even the resolute Murray without going too wide. Calling his BHs a slice is an exaggeration. Its more like a 1-handed push, with a hint of under-spin, harmless as can be. Vitas Gerulaitis used to play the same BH. Its very steady though, and Murray doesn’t look to overwhelm it (which is very do-able)

At best, he’s a a wall from the back. He’s slow even at start, showing signs of fatigue half-way through the first set (which he tends to do in general, and it would be unwise to count on it). By third set, he’s out on his feet

He however, almost never loses his head. Doesn’t get carried away with FHs or looking for big serves or coming to net. Which, given how he’s moving, sounds like a temptation. Given he how competitive he makes things, his choices are justified

Good first couple of sets
One sided third, and a fourth that’s as interesting as it is badly played

Serve & Return

First serve in - Murray 51%, Delpo 72%
First serve won - Murray 72%, Delpo 62%
Second serve won - Murray 48%, Delpo 35%

Court is slow and probably not worth lowering in count to bang down big serves. Neither player tries

It is an option. However slow, the first serves of both players is capable of doing damage. Way Delpo is gassed, for him in particular, looking for quick, cheap points seems like an idea

Nope. Both players send down average first serves, conservatively placed. Returning is not difficult job
Murray has substantial 10 aces, which along with low in count, doesn’t seem to fit above description.

Most of those aces are product of Delpo not moving and most of his serves are 3-quarter paced, in-swing zone stuff. The slightly wider ones are a little irksome, again because Delpo’s movements are so poor, not because serves are great

Poor job by Murray to get just 51% first serves in, way he serves

Justified smart one by Delpo to deliver 72%. His very low second serve points won speaks to trouble he gets into if he doesn’t. Going for bigger serves likely won’t draw errors from Murray anyway, but will lower in count… and Murray’s all over his second serves

Murray moving forward and smacking second returns has big hand in Delpo’s low second serve points won. For the energy he puts into the move, he doesn’t seem to be getting corresponding damaging value, but given his substantial rallying advantage, he doesn’t need to

Delpo walling up on the return. Aced 10 times (about half the time due to lack of effort), but just 13 return errors. Good job. He returns with normal strength - with only a rare powerful one. Rarely goes for a big FH to wide serves, usually missing

Murray’s returning, like many parts of his game, goes off in fourth set. He’s got 14 UEs on the return to 8 FEs. Lot of regulation return misses - especially for him

Low unreturned rates (Murray 18%, Delpo 17%) sums up serving quality and court speed. Murray in particular has room for returning even higher than 82% he does. Wouldn’t hold it against Delpo though - he’s generally not as secure on the return as Murray to begin with, and as physically out of it as he gets, he’s doen well to return so surely

Notable in all this is Delpo maintaining steady game and sticking to high percentage choices, with calculated risk taking only. Doesn’t bang down big serves to try to get cheap points. Rarely looks for big return (11 runaround FH returns are high for him, he usually doesn’t do that)

Solid serving, solid returning from Delpo
Low in count is not good from Murray, given average serving force. A little off on return consistency at times, but pressuring with his pouncing forward second returns

Then they rally
 

Waspsting

Hall of Fame
Play - Baseline (& Net)
Winners - Murray 34, Delpo 36
Errors Forced - Murray 28, Delpo 22
UEs - Murray 39, Delpo 54

Match long stats are of limited use due to large differences across match. Particularly, when Delpo’s presentably fit (first 2 sets) compared to when he isn’t

It’s a baseline match, with important net play component, but best to start at the back, FHs and BHs

First 2 sets are a study in shortcomings of snap evaluations
Delpo has more powerful FH - pressuring, powerful, damaging even. Murray’s is a largely a keep-the-ball in play shot
Murray has much better BH. A good, sturdy drive. Delpo’s is the 1-handed little push that passes as a ‘slice’.

Nope. Its Delpo’s FH and Murray’s BH that give up bulk of errors - substantially more than their opposite numbers, that look so ordinary (Murray FH) or downright weak (Delpo BH)

Match long UEs -
- Delpo BH 17
- Murray BH 18
- Murray FH 20
- Delpo FH 36

All kinds of messy things happen to the numbers by the end, but Delpo’s BH is very steady when he’s fresh. But its such a feeble shot that Murray driving it hard cc and approaching seems obvious ploy

According to commentary, Delpo hadn’t hit more than 2 BH winners in any of his previous matches. He’s got 4 here - a net chord dribbler and 3 passes. But Murray wins 20/28 points or 71% coming to net. Rarely, Delpo drives the BH with average power. That’s his step-up from roughly 80% of the time push-’slicing’ it

No driving it and coming in by Murray. Were he to do so - and its not difficult - Delpo would have to do something different with his BH on the pass, and nothing he actually shows in play (including being ineffective on the pass) suggests he could manage to pass effectively. Murray does tend to err on the side of caution, and this would be an example of it

Delpo’s FH retains its messiness, but its also by far the most damaging shot on show

Ground winners
- Delpo FH 20
- Murray FH 9, Murray BH 10
- Delpo BH 4

On top of the winners, it has enough power to be troubling even when its not hit wide. Back-away inside-outs trouble Murray’s BH, brute cc the FH

BH forces virtually 0 errors, so Murray’s substantial 22 FEs are either drawn by FH or net. Delpo’s got 13 net winners out of 20 points won up there, so about 7 errors forced. Delpo’s FH draws pressured UEs off both wings too, including a defensive one from Murray and pushes Murray back and does all the other things power can do

More back-away FH’ng from Delpo than his norm (which is low), but not much. He’s not quick enough to do it with confidence, but as he tires, obviously would prefer shorter points. And his BH doesn’t promise to shorten anything

As with the serve and return, Delpo keeping it to calculated risk-taking amidst essential soundness of just rallying as ball dictates. Must be tempting with a FH like his to just hit-out. He does so in a couple of little clusters - once successfully to hold a game to love with 4 consecutive winners, the other not when he loses third set

Gist - Delpo’s FH doing all the damage he does from the back. His is a damaging FH, safe BH game, with harmlessness of the BH at an extreme. When fresh and at his best for the match, it’s the BH that does its job better, and stays very secure. FH flounders considerably, while doing its job

Net points - Murray winning 71% of 28 approaches, Delpo 50% of 40

Delpo coming in a lot more is deceptive in that good lot of it is to deal with drop shots (which Murray plays well and starts to use more as Delpo tires). His general slowness enhanced, doesn’t take much to pass him or draw error with wide pass. Most successful trips to net are obvious approaches like after drawing a half-track return. Not good at net from Delpo because his movements aren’t upto getting down or even to the side to cut off passes

Leaving virtually all damaging work up to the FH. Tall order on slow court. Sans fitness issues, might do with neutral rallies about even. With fitness issues, much too much to ask

Neutral UEs - Murray 26, Delpo 34 (Murray also with a defensive UE)

Murray would expect to win this at normal times. Doubly so with Delpo moving like a rock. But he goes on weird, off & on spree of missing routine balls late in the match. And his ‘neutral’ UEs are that much more difficult when they come against big FHs

16/28 Delpo’s FE are FHs. That’s where he’s slowest to move and its quite easy to draw an error by going a little wide there, with either FH cc or BH line. Murray takes to slicing dtl too. Even hits a clean winner with 1 - and that’s early in match when Delpo’s fresh, to give some idea of slow he is

28 is an inflated count, which is more about how slow Delpo gets than how aggressive Murray is. With normal movement, he’d cover these balls comfortably

And Murray? Patiently probes Delpo’s gentle BH and doesn’t press on when he sees it steady. Stays steady himself off the FH, against Delpo’s power. Moves Delpo around nicely when Delpo tires. Wide to to FH is most vulnerable and that’s where he goes. Good enough with the wider FH cc and he’s good with the BH longline. Slices some in that direction too - and Delpo reaches such balls when their barely off the ground. Uses drop shots well. He’s got couple drop shot winners, and the swinging, non-net BHV passes are from drop shot points too

He does couple of smart things. Before Delpo’s big decline, he keys in on slowness to move to FH and weakness of BH, exploiting both by playing aside move-aside FH inside-ins amidst BH-BH rallies. It works and draws errors

Goes on a wacky error detour in fourth set, when Delpo looks ripe to plucked. Conditions are hot and humid, but he doesn’t look tired, and he’s not the type to particulalry hide it if he were

Attacking UEs - Murray 7, Delpo 10
Winner Attempt UEs - Murray 5, Delpo 10

Murray with 34 winners and 28 errors forced to go with those UEs would normally be outstanding. Given opponents very low defensive capacity of opponent here, not so much. His low aggressive UEs is more sign of not being too aggressive rather than great attackign efficiency

Attacking Murray is of course a much harder task. Good figures for Delpo, who has 36 winners and forces 22 errors. That’s with little spurts of pointed aggression involved. His base game (both in match and in general) isn’t particularly aggressive, even with that FH which has ability to knock away point ending shots from anywhere

Finally, Murray’s shot tolerance is down by his norm. Slow enough court and Delpo not full-blasting his FHs… would expect Murray to cope with the heat of the shots better than he does. Gives up fair few beat-down UEs that he at least is capable and in habit of avoiding
 

Waspsting

Hall of Fame
Match Progression
Good set of tennis to open up. Delpo’s slow of movement and shows some signs of feeling the heat about half-way through the set, while Murray moves well. Delpo slaps the odd big FH and look to take net from commanding position to be aggressive, while push-’slicing’ his BH gently. Murray plays steady game off both sides, without doing anything with substantial hitting advantage off the BH. He has a little, uncharacteristic spell of missing routine groundies and makes just 15/38 first serves or 39% (Delpo serves at 63% by contrast), but passes well

First 3 games takes almost half an hour, with Delpo being broken in an 18 point game to fall behind 2-0, but getting the break right back

8 UEs in the 18 point game, and 5 of them are Delpo FHs. It also has a cc winner, the culmination of a series of big shots. Murray comng to net to deliver a FHV winner on break point

Big FHs, including another cc winner, shape the break back too
Murray makes it 3 breaks on the trot with a love break to go ahead again, with a particularly good, surprising winning BH dtl starring more than the clean FH dtl passing winner
In time, Delpo breaks back - net point, running-down-drop-shot drop shot winner at net and double fault involved, before Murray blinks up an error in a BH cc rally

Murray holds for 6-5 in an 8 point game where he makes just 1 first serve. And breaks to take the set, with a couple of passing winners (FH cc, set up beautifully by a low pass from very defensive position and BH dtl that he waltz’ too) and good deep return that draws an error

Contrary to appearance of quality of shots, Murray FH has 3 UEs for the set (Delpo has 14), while Delpo BH has 4 (Murray has 9)

Delpo walls up for much of the second set, particularly early on and barely misses a ball. Unable to find a way through Delpo’s BH, Murray moves over to play FH inside-ins, somewhat baiting Delpo to go for big FHs. Not necessarily bad ploy, but a passive one

Delpo breaks to open the set, managing to hit a BH dtl pass winner on his third break point. He has to save 3 break points himself to hold. Strange point in the game, where Murray hits a BH dtl slice winner; fine shot, but says something about Delpo’s movements

Delpo tempers the FH firepower, wisely after going up a break. Break turns out to be enough. He has another break point to end the set in game 9, and Murray’s a little lucky to come away with the point after hitting a bad drop shot, but gets the net-to-net BHV winner after fluid rally. Delpo takes a good rest after the point on the net

Serve out takes 8 points, with Delpo delivering big FHs to wrap up. Amusingly, Chair warns Delpo for taking too much time between points. According to commentary, allotted time is 20 seconds. Delpo’s been leisurely all match - there is no way this is the first time he’s gone over 20 seconds. Mode, median or mean, he’s doubtlessly averaging over 30 seconds between points. A fun little trick Chair’s used to do before the timer was introduced - say nothing all set, and then give a warning during the serve out or in tiebreak

Horrendous set from Delpo to lose the third in quick time. He’s showed increasing signs of tiring in second set, but looks done and dusted in the third. Lashes out wildly, barely moves, give up easy UEs quickly, double faults. 6-2 to Murray in quick time, and looking like a bagel might make up the finale

Instead, we get 80s girls night, with break after break after break. First 4 games are all breaks. And there are 3 more after that

Delpo’s still moving like a rock, while Murray just plays very strangely - double faulting, blinking up errors, having odd rash rush of aggressive blood to the head, missing routine returns. He moves well and shows no obvious signs of fatigue

1 of the worst games of Murray’s career to start the set. Starts by missing a putaway swing volley, follows up by missing easy lined up FH and adds 2 more attacking FH UEs, all in short rallies

Breaks back in deuce game. After saving first break point, Delpo goes to wrong court to serve. He’s either completely out of it or a great actor, wasting time to grab some extra time. Some good shots by Murray, including winning BH dtl, a wide, deep FH cc return and to seal the break, a nifty BH drop shot winner after working Delpo over

Looks like the first game was an anomaly and Murray’s back to being on top

Nope

Double faults twice next game. On break point, the weary Delpo makes a fantastic wide BH1/2V against a bullet pass, and comes away with net to net BHV winner
Grindy game and another break after that
Both players hold for first time to move to 3-3. Delpo’s hold is to love and features 4 FH winners - an inside-in and 3 inside-outs (last 1 a pass). Close enough to finish line that such bravado is a good sign

Delpo breaks to move ahead in another poor Murray game (double fault, missed regulation FH and a bad drop shot that leads to Delpo coming away with an OH winner). Poor return errors from Murray see Delpo consolidate for 5-3

Things get tense on the would-be serve-out. Murray defends like dickens before drawing an attacking FH UE, before Delpo misses easy BH to go down 0-30

On first break point, Murray slaps a counter-attacking, wide FH cc. Delpo’s too gone to move for it even with stakes at pinnacle and just lunges his arm out, which ends up redirecting ball into open court for winner. He erases another break point later with a genuinely big serve

Why not try to serve like this more, at this stage? Most of his serves are not troubling. Murray raises 4th break point of game by drop shotting Delpo in and swatting away a swinging BHV pass winner to the rejoinder and on it, Delpo misses a lined up BH - and its back on serve at 5-5

Big runaround FHs and big FHs get Delpo to 0-30. He’s in charge of the next point, having pushed Murray back and in on way to stepping in for a kill-shot FH when his previous shot is first called out, and then overruled by the Chair. Point replayed, and Murray quickly comes in to dispatch FHV winner. Delpo wins next point with a BH dtl passing winner

Just very unfortunate timing for getting a call wrong. Delpo still raises 2 break points, but Murray comes away with the hold, with a couple of aces and drawing tired BH errors

Last game gets tense too. At 30-30, Murray’s moving up to putaway a FH when someone in crowd from close in screams at him. Enough to be very noticable. Couple points later, 2 Argentina jersey wearing fans are evicted from the stands

Murray finally breaks after 10 points to end the match. Tense and tough stuff - also, very poor tennis

Summing up, one weird match. Starts normally with good, sound baseline - Murray solid off both sides, probing for weaknesses and finding one in his opponents movement to the FH side, del Potro power FH’ng and very passively but securely, pushing 1 handed BH ‘slices’

Things are competitive, with del Potro’s waning movements and tiredness giving Murray an edge

After del Potro’s movements hit a low that seems un-compensatable, Murray starts to run away with the match, before his game falls of in a wacky way. Makes for a tense, competitive finale, with the tennis not so good. del Potro strikes a nice balance in adding aggression but not getting crazy with it

Main factor in result is del Potro’s fitness, which falls of quickly and leaves him a sitting duck. He’s done well in the circumstance, with considerable help from the choppiness of the winner
 
from these reports, i get the impression that del Potro was quietly one of the most strategically astute players in the past few decades, even in comparison to the Big 4 or "maximizers" like Simon. is this reading too much into his often tempered playstyle?
 

Wurm

Professional
The story of anyone playing del Po at that time was extended inside-out forehands into his slice backhand rallies and trying to judge when to risk going to the forehand.

del Potro is winded before end of first set, extending to physically half-gone by the third set.

As if. Playing possum was a speciality of his.
 

Waspsting

Hall of Fame
The likes I awarded above should just be construed as thanks for the accuracy of the report.

I'll take what I can get - thank you. The only time I feel I've been robbed of likes is when @vive le beau jeu ! doesn't leave any for Nadal losses
Years later, one has retired because he could not overcome his injuries, and the other is still playing just because he doesn’t know what else to do.
The like I've given this one is because I like the post

un partido de mierda for Del Potro. Kind of I remember that, I wanted to kill myself for watching it.
I think he's just very tired. He'd been on court a long time in reaching the final, including 3+ hours in the semi
According to commentary, this was the first time in 2 and half years he'd won 4 matches in a row
It looks like its hot and muggy hot there

Funnily enough, Murray was involved in a very similar match, where both he and Ferrer are on verge of collapse by the end of '13 Miami final

In that one, Ferrer does same thing Delpo does here... has his legs massaged at changeovers. Your supposed to only get that kind of treatment when injured, not for being tired and 'loss of conditioning'

from these reports, i get the impression that del Potro was quietly one of the most strategically astute players in the past few decades, even in comparison to the Big 4 or "maximizers" like Simon. is this reading too much into his often tempered playstyle?
I'd say so

He doesn't get carried away or spill into over-aggressive. But he doesn't sit back and get blown off court either

He's in such bad shape in this one that I don't know what best way to go is. Going for a few big serves and look for a few quick, cheap points? If he misses, he's down to second serve, and that's not going too well for him

High aggression is way most players would go in the state he's in going into fourth set, I think. He doesn't, thus giving Murray room to mess up, which Murray obliges
Wouldn't have bet on it happening, but can't argue with results

Think his biggest could do so much better was the serve. For his size (and strength), must be the worst serve there is. Seems like something that could have been worked out, but he never did improve it much
 
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